Improving the Adhesion Bonding Strength for FML Composites by Using a Extremely Thin Mesh Steels

Fiber metal laminate (FML) is an advanced composite material that combine the advantageous of both fiber reinforced composites and metal alloys without sharing their individual disadvantages. When it is compared to commonly known fiber reinforced polymer composites, the FML provide better impact resistance and fatigue strength. But the production of a FML composite is a major problem since the bonding at fiber-metal interface can be poor. For this reason, the adhesion bonding capability at the fiber-metal interface was investigated in this study. Carbon fiber and glass fiber fabrics having both  ±45° and 0°-90° orientation were used as fiber layers. And extremely thin stainless steel materials in the mesh form were used as metal layers. The mesh sizes of the layers are 100 and 500 respectively. The produced specimens having 12 different configurations were subjected to  single lap shear tests according to ASTM D 5868-01 Standard. The results showed that 500-mesh stainless steel favorably affected the adhesion bonding strength.